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Wild aims to keep foot on gas against Blues

Jared Spurgeon of the Minnesota Wild (left) fends off Blues’ Jaden Schwartz during Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Thursday. Minnesota was able to neutralize the Blues’ physicality with speed in the opener and will look to do so again this afternoon. (AFP/PHOTO)

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The Minnesota Wild can count. They know one game does not win a series.

But another victory against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m., EST) would put them in a pretty good spot heading home for the next two games of their Western Conference quarterfinal.

“Yeah, for sure, we don’t want to sit around and say, ‘Oh, it’s a long series,’ or anything like that,” said Wild head coach Mike Yeo on Friday. “I think the idea is when you grab the lead, you want to push harder and try to extend it. I think for us to feel any kind of satisfaction or be overly pleased with ourselves, I don’t think you’re going to see that with our group. We know it’s going to be a tough test. All we can do right now is make sure we put our best game on the ice and go all-in with the way that we have to play and see what that gives us.”

This is unfamiliar territory for the Wild, who traditionally fall behind in the playoffs and are forced to battle back.

On Thursday, however, they won Game 1, by taking an early two-goal lead and hanging on, scoring two empty-net goals in a 4-2 victory.

Going into Game 2, the pressure may shift to the Blues, but Minnesota is not ready to simply concede a split.

“Not necessarily, that can be erased pretty quickly,” Wild winger Zach Parise said. “We’d love to get out of here with a couple of wins. We did the first part of that (Thursday) night and now we have to find areas to improve for the second game.

“Win or lose you’re always looking to improve your own game, look at things you can do better. The coaches will watch the video and they’ll say what they think we need to change. But from a mentality standpoint, the second one is also important for us, and hopefully, we can have the same type of game that we did in the first.”

The Wild were happy with their play in the opening game, neutralizing the Blues’ physicality with speed. St. Louis tried to pin the Wild deep with an aggressive forecheck, but found themselves chasing the puck for long stretches instead.

Jason Zucker’s opening goal was an example of how dangerous the Wild speed is, taking a rebound, racing around behind the net and tucking the puck in before goaltender Jake Allen could even think about getting up and sliding across to the other side.

“We needed speed to be a factor and I think we saw that (Thursday) night,” Yeo said. “Speed for us is not about one guy and I think if you look at that one line (Zucker, Mikko Koivu, Chris Stewart) that line played fast all night too. That’s one thing, for sure he (Zucker) is a guy that has the ability to break plays and push the D back and challenge them with his speed individually. But I think the thing that I was pleased with was the speed game that we played with and that’s not an individual thing, that’s how we play the game.”

Knowing St. Louis won’t be thrilled by the prospect of having to go on the road down two games, Yeo expects a stronger push from the Blues on Saturday.

“I would fully expect them to come out and play a real physical brand of hockey, try to impose themselves on us,” Yeo said. “I expect them to try to throw everything at the net and try to crash the net real hard. I don’t think that’s a real big secret, but we’ve just got to make sure we’re not sitting around watching and waiting to see what they’re going to bring at us. We have our own game plan that we’ve got to make sure we’re aggressive in how we approach ourselves.”

ELLIOTT ALL ABOUT THE TEAM

Brian Elliott is familiar with what it’s like to have to caddie in the post-seson.

Despite having a solid regular season for the Blues, Elliott was passed over for the second consecutive year, starting the Western Conference quarterfinal against the Minnesota Wild on the bench in favour of rookie goaltender Jake Allen, who will also get the call in Game 2 on Saturday afternoon.

“Sometimes you’re going to have to make sacrifices for the team, and everybody in here has done that at some point in their career, this year and in the last game,” Elliott said following practice Friday. “Guys have sacrificed a little bit of ice here and there for matchups or whatever the coaches are seeing. This game comes and goes too fast to get upset about the little things. That’s the coach’s decision. It’s nothing I can do, so I control what I can and come here every day with a smile on my face and try to do my best. I’ll be ready when called upon. That’s how it is right now.”

Elliott, 30, is in his fourth year with the Blues. Last season, he made way for Ryan Miller, who was acquired just prior to the trade deadline from the Buffalo Sabres. This despite Elliott having an 18-6-2 record with a 1.96 goals against average and .922 save percentage that season.

This year, Elliott had a 26-14-3 record with a 2.26 goals against average and .917 save percentage. But Allen got hot towards the end of the season and the Blues decided to go with him to start the series.

On Thursday, Allen conceded two goals on 27 shots​. Minnesota scored two empty-net goals in the 4-2 win.

“He’s playing good, so whatever we can do to win,” Elliott said. “The ultimate goal is to win the Cup at the end of the year, so no matter who’s playing, no matter who is healthy scratched in this locker room, all that matters is the one goal.”